


War of the Ancients

by thefirecrest



Category: Defense of the Ancients | Dota
Genre: Body Dysphoria, Broodmother still has invisibility, Canon-Typical Violence, Drow and Magina are best bros, Eventual Romance, Friendship, Gay Anti-Mage, Isekai, Kinda, Multi, Older update version of Dota, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Windranger, and some end up in male, because some guys end up on female characters bodies, because suck it Valve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 07:07:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17617802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefirecrest/pseuds/thefirecrest
Summary: “Welcome Heroes! We thank you all for your dedication to this fight and today we’d like to welcome you all, the best of the best, to the final Defense Against the Ancients update where we take the battle to you.”“For millennia,” the voice continued, “the war between the Ancients has brewed. And finally, after years of gathering data and intelligence on the best Heroes in the universe we have gathered all of you to decide the outcome of this age old war once and for all.”The best Heroes. As in the best Dota players in the world. But she didn't play Dota, had never touched the game in fact aside from watching her brother play. Now she was in a death arena in the body of some woman named Drow Ranger amongst the best in the world.Oh God. She was going to die.~*~The final die has been cast. The best heroes have been selected to finish the war of the Ancients for good. But this is no game of Dota. This is war, grit and blood included. People will die and the fighting will rage on until the bloody end. By some fluke in the system, she was selected as one of these Champions and now she must learn, and fast. Because it not, it will be her end.





	War of the Ancients

Consciousness came slowly. Winding and crawling up towards the surface, painfully slow and tedious, until finally the faint noises ringing in my ears sharpened and cleared. Voices all around me, murmuring in confusion. They lulled then grew in volume. I struggled to open my eyes, to  _ move _ , when I became acutely aware of a throbbing pain in my entire body. I would’ve gasped from the sensation had I been capable of opening my mouth. I could only lay there, surrounded by disembodied voices, the cold ground (was that grass? Dirt? Why was I outside?) biting into my spine, and a heavy beat pulsing through my head. Everything hurt. I was scared.

The last thing I remember was rushing up the stairs to kick Peter off the computer - he’s always hogging it for his stupid game. But the memory was fuzzy like a dream and everything after that was gone. I can’t remember anything. Somehow between then and now I’ve ended up outside and unconscious surrounded by people.

There was a sudden gentle breeze immediately followed by a presence besides me. I tensed up, still unable to move my body. I’m wasn’t sure how I knew there was a person next to me, staring at me, since they aren’t making a noise but I just did.

“Hey hey,” a distinctly feminine voice reached my ears. “Stay calm alright. I’m not here to hurt you.” That wasn’t reassuring. “Can you move at all?”

I couldn’t . Not an inch. Not a single muscle.

There was a moment of silence, probably as whoever she was waited for my reply.

“Maybe try your fingers?” She suggested gently. “I know this is probably very shocking to you but you’ll be able to move soon I promise. I just need to know that you’re awake and not well… Dead. Try move something?”

Seeing as I had really no choice in the matter, it was either place my trust in this stranger or lay here completely helpless, I focused all my attention on my pinky finger trying to move it. Moments passed and absolutely nothing and I felt like crying from the frustration. Why couldn’t I move? What happened? Where am am? What is going on?

“Whoa there whoa there, calm down, don’t panic,” the woman said again. “I can feel your heartbeat accelerating, there’s nothing to worry about… for now.” She whispered the last part but somehow my ears picked up on it. Did she also not know what’s going on? “Ok so. We’ll take it a little slower then, just take a break for now. Don’t worry, the paralysis  _ will  _ wear off it just takes some time. For me it took about fifteen minutes, it was shorter for some of the others but usually it takes about thirty minutes to wear off.”

Others? So we weren’t the only ones here?

“At least I know you can hear me now,” she said with a humorless chuckle. “Since we’re waiting I should probably introduce myself shouldn’t I? I’m… Well…” Her voice trailed off in thought and she let out a small humorless laugh. “Hah. Well I guess you can just call me Wind now.”

Guess? Why would she need to guess? Curiosity peaked my interest and I wondered at her words as I laid there helplessly.

“None of the rest of us who got here first know what’s going on either,” Wind said. “Right now there's about a little over a hundred of us but more people are appearing.” Appearing? “We should all be here soon but this… This situation is crazy isn’t it? And you don’t even know half of it yet.”

Listening around me I could once again hear the growing murmuring of a crowd but the voices… Some of them sounded distorted and warbled, strange and alien. I couldn’t pick out any single person speaking but it was obvious that everyone was nervous from both the tone and the energy in the air. I heard a growl in the distance and someone snapping back aggressively.

Wind made a noise of concern above me and my breath hitched in worry.

“Let try again,” she suggested. “Some of the other’s are getting a little rowdy. Not that I blame them but things could get dangerous if they escalate. Do any of them even know what they’re doing with those weapons?”

Weapons? My eyes would’ve bulged if they could’ve but her words spurred me into action. I once again focused all my attention to my fingers, letting the world around me wash away into a dull gray. Wind was right, whatever was keeping me paralysed seemed to be less heavy now.

My hand twitched.

“Oh that’s good!” Wind praised encouragingly, “Try your other hand.”

I twitched my other hand.

“Alright alright now let’s try-”

Her voice was cut off by a loud angry shout. The murmur of the crowd had grown loud now, people’s nervous energy turning defensive and angry like a pot about to boil over. Whoever the shout belonged to sounded like a man, voice low and rumbling and full of power.

“What the fuck did you say to me?”

Someone yelled back softer and farther away so I couldn’t hear what they said. I felt Wind’s hands tighten on my shoulders.

“We should move,” she said with a hint of concern in her voice. “I know the paralysis probably hasn’t worn off yet but could you help me carry you? Try and stand for me.”

I felt her arms shift, one lifting my upper body by bracing across my shoulders and another hand pushing my lower back. Moving felt wrong, off, different. My muscles ached as they tried to fight of the paralysing agent and the feeling of sleep deep in my bones. I moved and it hurt, letting out a low moan of pain.

“Sorry sorry,” Wind softly apologized as she continued to move me slower this time. I slowly but surely started to get to my feet feeling wobbly and still blind. I was immediately graceful for her assistance as she took on most of my weight when we were finally up. “Alright we’re going to walk this way now. No rush...”

We started to inch forwards, my legs weak and uncoordinated. They felt too long and foreign and I wondered what could’ve caused such a sensation. We slowly took step after step away from the source of arguing. The crowd was now rolling with noise and filled with shouting.

“They’re just scared,” Wind reassured. “Just like you and me.” It probably wasn’t as comforting as she had hoped it would be.

As she walked I began to try and open my eyes, tired of the helpless blindness, My eyelids felt sticky and heavy like weights and pulling them apart took more effort than it should have. I probably should’ve waited because my divided attention made my legs give way as I tripped over nothing. Wind made a surprised noise but thankfully caught me before we fully fell over.

“Sorry…” I mumbled.

“You can talk now!” Wind said happily, “Well sorta I guess. But this is good, it means it’s wearing off. You should be fine soon. OK, just a few more meters and we should be far enough away.”

I disagreed because to me the rowdy sounds of the crowd were still to loud and close to be comforting but I didn’t have enough in me to argue with the woman helping me. A few minutes later she was helping me down to the ground. I sat down and stretched out my legs feeling more rotation and movement return to them.

Actually, I was feeling a lot of rotation. My legs stretched and fell limp at angles I didn’t think I was flexible enough to reach and they felt much too long and thick to me mine. Blurrily I tried to open my eyes again now that I could completely focus on it.

Soft light filtered past my lashes (pale lashes... I have dark hair) but after so long in darkness it still hurt to see. I flinched back and hissed in displeasure but I kept at it and finally opened my eyes.

A shock of red filled my vision.

The woman must be Wind, because she’s the only person near me and I could see blurry figures moving in the distance. She smiled disarmingly at me and I took in her pale face and rolling locks of shocking ginger hair.

“Wind?” I still asked anyway.

She laughed lightly, “Yeah. It’s me. How are you feeling? Can you move more?”

I flexed my fingers finding that more feeling had returned to them as well as that foreign off sensation that rubbed me wrong. “A little,” I replied. “Where? Do you know where we are?”

She shook her head an uneased look crossing her bright green eyes.

“None of us know anything as far as I know,” Wind admitted slowly. “Some of the larger guys are getting a little rowdy with the panic. We don’t know where we are or how  _ this  _ has happened. It just all seems impossible.” My ears focused in on her emphasis on the word “this”.

“Do you know who you are,” Wind suddenly asked and I was struck by the confusing question.

Of course I know who I am. What kind of question is that? I tried to tell her as such, feeling that she’s acted trustworthy enough for me to give her that information (my first name at least). Except that doesn’t happen.

Because I couldn't say my name. It was like the words were caught by a barrier in my throat, refusing to come out no matter how hard I tried to speak. The sensation was terrifying and strange. I couldn’t say my name.  _ I couldn’t say my name. _

Wind must've notice my panic because she started shushing me again and trying to calm me down, running a hand soothingly in circles around my back. “Okay okay. That’s alright. That’s normal. I couldn’t say my name either, I don’t think we’re allowed to.” And what the hell does  _ that even mean _ .

“W-why?” I stutter not feeling the least bit comforted. I looked up into her emerald eyes and saw a foreign face reflected back at me. I reached for my hair freezing with shock when I saw that my hands were gray-blue. I then grabbed a lock of hair that was falling over my shoulders (I have a bob cut, I  _ know  _ this) and my hair was snow white. I began to hyperventilate.

“What is happening,” I gasped. “This isn’t- This isn’t  _ me.  _ This isn’t my body, I’m-”

“Just try to calm down,” Wind soothed. “I get that’s it’s scary, you’ve just woken up and everything is wrong.  _ I get it.  _ This isn’t my body either. I mean,  _ haha,  _ I’m a  _ dude  _ for goodness sake and I’m in fucking Windranger’s body. How does something like this even happen?” She sounded a little hysterical at this.

Her words then processed in my head.

“Dude… You’re a guy?” I said dumbfounded.

Her-  _ his  _ head bobbed up and down in affirmation, a red blushing appearing on his pale face clashing violently against his orange hair. “I know I know,” he muttered to himself and it felt so strange in my head to try and tied together the fact that this attractive woman before me was actually a  _ man.  _ “But I’m assuming, and this is just an educated guess, but I’m assuming it’s because Windranger is my main. I’m probably one of the best players in the world so I got stuck as a chick.”

These new words then clicked in my head.

“Players?” I asked mouth turning dry. “You mean… Oh my god.” I knew the name Windranger sounded familiar, “These are characters from that game isn’t it? Windranger is a character from that game Dota isn’t she?” A sneaky feeling of horrifying realization started creeping up on me.

Wind blinked at me, “Well, yes. But I thought you’d know that already. The rest of the group,” he pointed to the crowd of, now that I could see better,  _ creatures  _ behind him, “from the people I’ve spoke with are all Dota players. We just don’t know how this is possible. We might not be able to share our real names but from what I’ve gathered we’re all some of the best players in the world for our respective heros.”

“But I-” I swallowed something bitter. “I  _ don’t play  _ Dota.” I thought I might start to hyperventilate again.

“You don’t?” He sounded shocked and I thought I could hear a hint of fear in his voice. “Then how- why-?”

“My  _ brother  _ plays that stupid game!” I cried, “My  _ twin brother! _ I don’t play video games!”

“That's-” Wind trailed off with wide eyes. “That’s not good.”

At that moment a loud horn filled the air, sounding three times in succession which made the entire crowd of arguing people quiet down and look to the sky, then it stopped. We all waited in tense silence until a holographic screen stretched into existence above us.

“Welcome Heroes,” a female voice echoed around us as the same words appeared on the screen. I looked around and saw that we were all sitting in a clearing in some forested area. “We thank you all for your dedication to this fight and today we’d like to welcome you all, the best of the best, to the final Defense Against the Ancients update where we take the battle to  _ you _ .” I felt deep dread fill my gut noticing that not once did the faceless speaker refer to this as a game.

“For millennia,” the voice continued, “the war between the Ancients has brewed. And finally, after years of gathering data and intelligence on the best Heroes in the universe we have gathered all of you to decide the outcome of this age old war once and for all.”

It was at this point that people began to shout again. I saw in the distance a giant red man with bulging muscles shout in anger at the sky, his roar deafening. I shrunk back in fear.

“We thank you for your participation,” the disembodied woman continued as if the chaos on the ground were not happening. “For the next few weeks we will be holding tournaments in the fashion that you are used to,” the projection in the sky changed we were now looking at a square map with three large paths. “During this initial period you will be able to learn the mechanics of the final update while we will be weeding out the weak and establishing the final factions. Then the real war will begin.”

“But-” I whispered in horror and felt tears begin to burn at my eyes. “I don’t- I don’t know how to-”

I paused when someone grabbed my hand. I looked up into Wind’s sad and pitying eyes. He gave me a firm and reassuring squeeze but didn’t speak.

“We begin immediately,” the woman continued. “Now we will randomly choose our first ten contestants.” The holo shifted again and now displayed two slot machine wheels with various faces on them and the words “Radiant” and “Dire” above.

The entire crowd fell silent again as the wheels began to spin.

They both stopped abruptly, displaying faces of two contestants. A angry red face below Radiant and a pale scarred one under Dire. The faces appeared to the side under their respective groups and the wheels started up again.

This happened four more times until a total of ten faces were displayed up in the sky. I vaguely recognized a few of them but there was one that struck cold fear into my entire body. A face with gray-blue skin and snow white hair. My eyes shifted down and I took in my shaking gray-blue hand then shifted back up to watch the holo with horror.

A hand touched mine and I instinctively pulled it away startled. I looked over to see Wind watching me with helpless horror. We didn’t speak.

“Congratulation to our first chosen heroes!” The voice echoed again. “On the Radiant team, we have Axe, Lion, Omniknight, Shadow Fiend, and Drow Ranger.”

“That’s good at least,” Wind said shakily sounding unconvinced. “You have a good team, if you just play it safe-”

“And on the Dire team,” the voice continued. “We have Pudge, Skywrath Mage, Witch Doctor, Juggernaut, and Sniper.”

Wind’s voice trailed off into nothing. I didn’t have to be able to read his mind to know that this was not a good match up to go against. I made an involuntary whimper as I looked up at my fate.

“D-don’t worry,” he stuttered to me trying to sound reassuring. “It’s not ideal.” No it really wasn’t. “But you have good teammates and if my hypothesis is correct they should be the best players for their heroes. You just have to stay back and farm-”

“Farm?” I asked incredulously, voice raising in hysteria. “What does  _ farming  _ have to do with anything! And if your theory is right then the  _ other  _ team is also made of top players too!” I thought I was going to faint. My chest rose rapidly and I couldn’t control it.

“Hey hey, relax,” Wind tried. “You have to relax, Drow.”

“Drow?”

“Your character-”

The female voice cut him off again, “The match will begin in one minute. Please use this time to discuss with your teammates.”

“Oh my god,” I gasped.

“Ok. Please you  _ have to calm down  _ so I can help you,” Wind said sternly. “We don’t have a lot of time and I have no idea what’s going to go down in that arena. But you have to calm down and listen to me so I can at least explain the basic mechanisms of the game for you.” His words rang with reason in my mind but I had difficulty turning his advice into reality. The fear was so strong and gripping. I felt like I was having a heart attack and drowning all at once.

“O-okay,” I managed to heave out through my labored breathing. Wind didn’t look convinced that I could listen in this condition but times was running out.

“Alright,” he said. “Well the basic game mechanic is pretty simple. You kill things to get gold and use that to buy items and weapons to help you kill more things. All the while you’re trying to destroy the enemy towers and eventually their Ancient, this big building in the center of their base, to win.”

I nod shakily.

“Because you don’t know how to play,” he continued. “Just stay safe in the beginning. Stay behind your own towers and farm, and by farming I mean killing things to collect god.  _ Don’t try to kill the enemy heroes in the beginning until you have someone else with you. _ ” Wind made sure to emphasize that last point. “Kill the small things. The ones on the paths are called creeps and you have your own that’ll fight for you. Get the last hit on the enemy creeps to get gold. So stay behind your own until it’s safe. You have a bow and arrow so you should be okay.”

I gave him a disbelieving expression, “A bow and arrow? I don’t know how to use one of those!”

Wind bit his bottom lip, “Well… I doubt the rest of them know how to use their weapons either. I’m not sure how this works with us in the bodies of the heroes. I’m sure that’ll be worked out otherwise what’s the point of recruiting gamers right?” He laughed nervously sounding uncertain.

We sat in silence for another moment as I just took in his words, mind struggling to comprehend everything that had just been told to me. Suddenly Wind gave a start as if coming to a realization. He started to say something in a panic.

“One more thing! Be careful of Pudge! He has this hook that can-”

And then the world blurred and phased white, cutting off whatever urgent advice Wind had been trying to give me. In another second the world shifted back into view. I was still sitting on the grass and ground but now I was in some sort of walled off area. Behind me there was a beautiful layered fountain where some sort of glowing blue liquid was running down in waterfalls. I felt oddly at peace and invigorated and felt strength return to all my limbs.

“There you are, Drow,” a deep masculine voice said behind me. I looked over to see a kind faced man with long auburn hair and a neat beard looking at me. “We were looking for you to discuss what we were going to do.” He took a shaky breath, “I mean. Not that any of us really know what to do anyways.” He then held out a hand to help me up.

I grabbed it and was surprised to find I could now easily stand up. As if all the paralysis in my body had faded. I felt… Stronger. Like I could run for miles and never stop. I also noticed that when I stood at my full height I was taller than the broad ginger man. I had always been short. The new height was disorientating.

“Enough chit chat,” another voice growled. My head snapped over to the source which was a towering red man with muscles that didn’t look like they should be physically capable of existing. He stood nearly four heads taller than me and I barely came up to his bulging pectorals despite my newfound height. But unlike the ginger man his face was angry and unfriendly and I felt instinctively scared of him.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he rumbled angrily. “Let’s figure out what to do.”

I glanced around at the rest of the group and saw that one was a short purple faced creature that looked strangely like a human-porcupine-pug hybrid. The other was literally a collection of swirling shadows and glowing red lights, that one was particularly difficult to look at.

“Welcome Heroes!”

The five of us all turned around to see a man with a large red nose grinning at us.

“You’re the shopkeeper,” Ginger said with shock. “Do you… Do you know what’s going on?”

“Certainly,” the shopkeeper nodded. “But everything comes with a price and I’m afraid all of you are currently too poor to afford such information.”

“What?” The red man growled taking a menacing step forwards. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean. Tell us what the fuck is going on!” I stepped back myself but the shopkeeper seemed unfazed.

“I would not do that if I were you,” the shopkeeper warned with an amused twinkle in his eyes. “There are prices for everything, including attempting to attack me. It would be unwise.” The red man just growled louder and continued forwards.

“Axe, maybe you should stop,” Ginger suggested worriedly.

But the large man, Axe, just roared and lunged at the shopkeeper. For a moment I thought the smaller man was a goner, especially given that large axe the man by the same name was wielding.

But in the next moment there was a flash of bright light as Axe slammed into some invisible wall and was forcefully repelled back, body slamming painfully into the wall behind us as we all hastily leaped out of the way. I let out a high pitched shout when the sound of his large body slamming into the wall rang out, and the telltale sound of stone cracking. I watched his large red body slump motionless and for a moment I feared he was dead.

“See now?” The shopkeeper said cheerily. “No need for such violence. Especially since I will be the one providing you all with what you require for however long you are still here.” I wasn’t the only one to catch the thinly veiled meaning behind that as we all looked at each other in horror. I wasn’t sure how a giant shadow monster could look horrified but he did.

“Do not worry heroes,” the shopkeeper chuckled at our faces. “Mogul Khan will be just fine. He is not dead. There is still a battle to be fought yet. But we must hurry for the Dire team may already be on the move. If you dally for any longer you may fall behind in farm.”

That seemed to sober everyone else up. I watched as they all seemed to become more attentive. Behind us I heard Axe groan.

Ginger immediately went to Axe the moment he started to stir and tried to help the hulking man up, only to be rebuffed angrily. Ginger merely huffed and walked away.

“Now then Heroes,” the shopkeeper said again. “Come search through my wares. In your pouches you’ll find 600 gold pieces which can be used to exchange.” I looked down and saw that there really was a small brown pouch hooked to the blue armor on my hip. I hesitantly opened it up and to my shock there were several large gold coins in there. I didn’t doubt that they were real.

The group gathered around the table were various strange objects were placed, Axe angrily shoving his way to the front. I shuffled behind them awkwardly staring at the foreign items with a sense of dread. I didn’t play a lot of video games but I was familiar enough with the function of buying items to boost stats and heal. But what items should I buy?

Everyone seemed to go straight for these glowing green berries so I hovered behind them watching.

“Once you purchase an item it will go into your satchels,” the shopkeeper said. I looked down again and sure enough I had a satchel hanging from my left hip. “Worry not, for these bags can hold more than you could ever need and bear no burden onto you. And if you are ever in need of an item, just reach in and think of it and it will come to you.”

I grabbed one of the berries off the table myself and I physically felt the weight in my coin pouch grow heavier. I looked inside and saw that two of my gold coins had been replaced with several silver and bronze ones. I somehow knew that I now had 575 gold instead.

“You can put it back for a full refund within ten second after that it’ll be refunded for only half price,” the shopkeeper said to me with a smile.

Seeing as everyone else had pocketed their berries I did so as well. Maybe it was a healing item? It did look green.

I noticed that Ginger was also picking up a few blue vials. The Shadow man and the short humanoid creature also took interest and picked up one or two. Axe didn’t pick any up but so far he hadn’t seemed very sensible to me and everyone else was grabbing them. So I grabbed a vial myself.

The short creature gave me a weird look, even weirder than his normal sour resting expression. “Why are you buying that, Drow?”

I blinked at him unsure of what to say. Was I not supposed to buy it? But all three of them were.

“Just in case?” Ginger asked.

“I-” I swallowed. “Well I actually…” How was I supposed to tell them that I didn’t know how to play this game? Axe didn’t seem like the type of guy to take too kindly to me revealing that kind of information and I didn’t have some sort of magic force field around me like the shopkeeper did.

“Yeah. That’s it…” I lamely said pocketing the blue vial. God I’m such a coward. I need all the help I can get I should just  _ tell them. _

But I glanced over at Axe’s wicked looking axe and swallowed again. I should tell them but that may be too big of a risk. I’ll just followed Wind’s advice and hopefully get through this whole ordeal alive.

The others picked were picking out items at ease. I saw several bunches of branches disappear into their satchels while other items went virtually untouched. Two of them grabbed one each what looked like a green christmas ornament. On the furthest end of the table were stacks of aged parchment. I saw Ginger glance one over and pocket it after a moment. I glanced back down at my own coin purse and eyed the pile of coins dubiously.

“Drow Ranger, what are you waiting for?” The squat purple creature asked me. “Hurry up and buy stuff.”

I swallowed my pride and grabbed two branch piles, feeling silly while doing so. How were branches supposed to help me? It may have been my imagination though, but I thought I might’ve felt a bit more invigorated upon putting them into my satchel. Once again I felt the weight of my coin purse shift.

The others were done with their shopping at this point and started to walk away in different direction. I blinked in surprise, unsure of how they knew which direction to go in without even saying a word to each other. The guy who was made of shadows was heading straight down the middle past a giant glowing monument while the others headed in other directions. Axe and the squat purple man to the left while Ginger headed towards the right.

Ginger paused and glanced back at me.

“Hurry up, Drow!” He called, “I’ll be waiting for you at bot!”

I gave him a shaky nod in return and he headed off.

I waited until they were all out of sight and turned back to the shopkeeper in panic. I pointed to a random item on the table, what looked like a silver circlet set with an amber stone.

“C-can you tell me what that does?”

The shopkeeper rose a thick brow at me and smiled amiably. “Of course not, my dear Drow!” He let out a bellied laugh. “This is the final test of champions. Champions need not be given aid in such simple matters. We would not insult you so.”

I gave him a strained smile, “Right… Insulted…”

“Or perhaps…” And suddenly, the shopkeeper was leaning close and whispering. A gesture which made me incredibly nervous. “You are attempting to glean information from me, no?” He stood up straight again and laughed. “It cannot be so I’m afraid, ranger. As I have said before, that information is far too expensive for your pockets. Now go on, before the Dire team gets too much of a lead on you.”

I laughed nervously along with him but didn’t say anything more. I hastily swiped random items from his table until my coin purse felt light, nearing empty. The shopkeeper merely gave me an intrigued look but said nothing. I rushed off soon after, in the direction Ginger had headed in.

Wind had told me to stay safe and behind the towers. I could only assume that he meant the towers the lined the large dirt path I trotted along. They were beautiful, but glowed and swirled with a strange blue light that didn’t seem to be real. Then again, none of this should be real. Maybe I’ll wake up soon from this strange and awful dream. I could only hope.

The walk along the path took a few minutes and I was alone the whole time. Aside from insects and birds, there wasn't’t another living soul besides me. Where was everyone? Where was Ginger?

It was at that moment that I started to hear something from behind me. A slight rumble, the stepping of feet, and the chatter of strange squeaky voices. I looked around in a panic unsure of what to do and quickly ran to hide behind a particularly thick tree. Just in time too.

A moment later, coming from around the bend, where these strange looking creature wielding sharp swords and bows. I let out a tiny gasp as they started down the road. Who were they? Friend? Foe? I didn’t know.

But they were coming closer to where my hiding places was and they looked to be travelling down the path. Should I not be walking down the path?

I wasn’t sure. But I had to quickly make up my mind. I decided that I would stay off the path for now, but stay close as to not get lost. Reluctantly, I stepped back and forged a bit into the darker forest, still keeping the lit dirt path in my line of sight. The strange creatures passed and I let out a sigh of relief. I continued on.

The forest was calming. I took the moment to still my breath and heartbeat and just take in the nature around me. I still didn’t know where Ginger was. I hope those strange creatures didn’t find and hurt him.

A few minutes later I started to hear the gurgling of a river. The sound was pleasant so I headed in that direction, still making sure to keep the road to my back. It was as I neared that I heard something strange.

I froze in place as the atmosphere changed. There was something… A sixth sense telling me something was off. The birds were still chirping merrily and the trees still rustled gently but… An unease had come over me. I looked around in a panic trying to spot where the sensation was originating from but I couldn’t see anything.

Further on ahead on the path past the trees I spotted another glowing blue light and a shock of ginger. I let out a sigh of relief as I started towards Ginger. Wind had told me to stay close to my teammates.

It was as I was nearing that the feeling of dread came over me again. Ginger had yet to notice me but I had to stop. I glanced around in fear but once again saw nothing. I took a careful step forwards and heard a branch snap deafeningly behind me. I whirled around a saw the most grotesque thing in my life.

He-  _ It, _ or whatever it was, was stepping out from behind a cluster of trees. His skin peeling and ripping in places, held together by thick strings and wire. There was a large gash that ran up from his navel to his chest, bloody and spilling with entrails. And in his hands he wielded a large butcher's knife in one and a wicked looking hook in the other.

Everything in my body froze. I couldn’t move. In school they teach you about fight or flight instincts in the presence of danger, but they always seem to neglect the third: Freeze. And as I stared down the grotesque monstrosity watching me with white pupiless eyes, my instincts did just that. My whole body froze over and all my joints locked up.

“Drow!”

I could vaguely hear Ginger calling out to me from somewhere in fear, but I couldn’t make my head turn to face him. I could only watch as a smile spit across that  _ thing’s _ face revealing rotting teeth as it lifted its arm with the wicket rusting hook.

And suddenly I was being jerked forwards, the blade of the hook cutting deep into my back sending fiery pain traveling along my entire nervous system. The monster jerked me so I was right before him. My joints finally unfroze from the shock of pain and I turned to run, a scream on my lips, but it was too late.

A new pain bloomed in my back and the thing ran it’s butchers knife straight through my spine. I could see the front end of it protruding out of my stomach, red blood spurting from the wound in contrast with my grey-blue armor. The pain was unimaginable. Then I was being lifted into the air from where I was impaled, feet leaving the ground. I slid down the length of the blade a bit more, but the pain was already so blinding that I didn’t even feel it. Why wasn’t I dead yet?

“Drow!” Ginger called out to me in horror.

But I was helpless, my vision thankfully starting to fade along with the pain. I heard a rumbling laughter from my murderer as he held me aloft in the air. My limbs were useless and weak at my side, turned to rubber as I died as they swayed to his booming laughter. The heat from my hot blood as it ran down my sides in rivers was starting to fade and go cold.

I blinked one last time, as it was the only thing I had energy to do.

Then I knew no more.

~*~

For a few moments, I felt peaceful. I did not think, I could not feel, and I was weightless. Was I going to heaven? I wondered.

But then color, sound and reality hit me all at once in the next moment. I took a shocking painful gasp as I collapsed to the grassy ground. The light around me was  _ too bright _ . My entire midsection still tingled with the sensation of being impaled, though the wound and pain had disappeared I could still feel the cut of the blade slicing through me life butter.

I leaned over and retched but nothing came up.

“Welcome back, Drow Ranger,” a familiar amiable voice sounded.

I lifted my weak head and stared into the twinkling eyes of the shopekeeper in horror. I had been  _ dead _ . I had just bee  _ killed. Impaled! _ How was I still living and breathing.

“I can see you are disorientated,” he commented easily and it made the feeling of horror I had since awaking in this god forsaken nightmare increase tenfold. “That was quite the show you and dead Pudge provided for us. I’m not sure what you were planning on doing standing there, but I am not the champion.” He laughed boisterously.

“I-I…” I let out weakly.

“You died, yes.” He answered, eyes still sparkling above that large tomato red nose of his. “But now you are back to continue to good fight! Sound you die again, you still respawn in the fountain as before. But as you can see, the battle mechanics are a bit more real this time. We have done away with the HP system, and now your bodies will sustain the damage. Mortal wounds are mortal wounds on this battlefield.”

I felt like puking again.

“Welcome to the Defense Against the Ancients,” he said. “The final war.”

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't played Dota in years, but this fanfic has been bugging me since I was still in high school. I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Romance is not the main plot. I always prioritize friendship and plot above all else, so if romance is not your cup of tea don't sweat it. Trans tags are mainly to showcase the body dysphoria characters will go through especially those stuck in bodies with the wrong sex, such as Windranger. No character is actually physically trans.


End file.
